Improvement in self-closing hatchways



UNITED STATES- LINTON R. BARBOUR, 013 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOJAMES PATENT j DFFIOE.

H. MGKAY'ANDBARNET WARNER, OF SAME PLACE.

.IMPROVEMENT IN SELF-CLOSING HATCHWAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,977, datedSeptember 15, 1874; applicationfiled June 19, 1874.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that I, LINTON It. BARBOUR, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Safety-Hatches, of which the following is aspecification: I g

This invention has reference to that class of hatchways in which thedoors at the diiferent floors of the building are opened and closed inan automatic manner through the medium of the ascending and descendingcab or elevator-cage. The invention consists in the arrangement, inrespect to the hatchway-doors, of a system of levers, slotted arms, andconnecting-rods, which are constructed and relatively arranged in such amanner above the hatchway-doors that the ascending cab or elevator-cage,after having opened the doors through the medium of inclined planescarried by the cage, will tend to retain the doors in an open positionuntil the bottom of the cab has cleared the same, 'when the gradualclosin g of the doors is insured by the arrangement of levers, arms, androds. The opening of the doors to permit the downward passage of the cabis accomplished by causing projecting plates or strips on the cab tocome in contact with the levers arranged above the doors in.

the path of the cage, thus forcing said levers in an outward directionto cause the doors to be opened through the intervention of the slottedarms and connecting-rods, and retained A in an open position until thecage has'passed below the same, when they are gradually restored to aclosed position.

Inthe accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of thehatchway-cage, frame, doors, and operating-levers. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section of the same, and Fig. 3 a top or plan viewthereof. I

A designates a hatchway of the usual construction, having at the cornersdiagonally opposite to each other tracks or guide-rails a, for thereceptionof bifurcated guide-plates b, or wheels, at the correspondingcorners of the cage B. The cage or elevator-cab is provided at thecorners not occupied by the guideplates, with. vertical strips or plates0, which subserve the function hereinafter specified; and on the top thecage carries inclined planes or plates D, which come in contact with theunder side of the doors H, when the cab is ascending, so as to bearagainst said doors, and to cause the same to be forced open by theupward progress of the cab. The doors are hinged in the ordinary manner,and are, re spectively, connected at opposite sides thereof to a systemof levers, E, slotted arms F, and connecting-rods G, which are broughtinto action to retain the doors in an open position until the cab haspassed above the top edges of the same, when they serve to close thedoors in a gradual manner, by causing the projecting corner-strips O totravel in contact with the levers E, which are inclined in an outwarddirection in respect to the path of the cage, so that the contact of thelatter is eventually removed. The levers E are hinged at their upperends to the corner-posts of the hatchway, and at their lower free endsthey are connected with the inner ends of the slot ends of the slottedarms F. The levers E incline in an inward direction when the doors areclosed, and the slotted arms 13 are retained in a horizontal position,while the rods Gr extend in an outward direction.

When the doors are opened by the ascending carriage or cab, the levers,arms, and rods are moved outward, so as to enable the doors to be openedto their full extent, and to permit the cab to ascend and act upon thebent levers for preventing a too sudden closing of the doors, whichwould take place if the levers and other devices were not present.

The act of opening the doors when the cab is descending is performed bycausing the corher-strips O of the cage to come in contact with thelev'ers E, thus gradually forcing the same outward, and insuring acorresponding gradual opening movement of the doors through the mediumof thelevers, slotted arms, and connectin g-rods. The doors commence tomove in a downward direction so soon as the cage has passed below thetop edges of the same, and they gradually follow the movement of thesame, so that, by the time the top of the arranged to operate in concertwith each other cage has passed below the door-frame, the substantiallyas herein described.

- doors will be in a closed position. a In testimony that I claim theforegoing I I claim as my inventionhave hereunto set my hand. Incombination w1th the doors of a hatch- LINTON R. BARBOUR.

way, the opening and closing mechanism, consisting of the cage, thepivoted levers E, slot- Witnesses:

ted arms F, and connecting-rods G, the va- CHARLES A. RHODES, riousparts being constructed and relatively D. R. SANFORD.

